"Fee-fi-fo-fum" – I smell a gigantic 6502!

Eric Schlaepfer has created and built a huge 6502 microprocessor, The Monster 6502 using discrete components. The oversized “chip” measures 12×15 inches and show through LEDs how the iconic 6502 works to process all the data you see in your Apple II, Commodore 64, Atari and many other microcomputers and game consoles we love.

It took a little more than a year from the concept to the fully working machine, which was unveiled last week at the Makerfare in Bay Area, USA.

“In total, there are 4304 components on the board. There are 3218 transistors and 1019 resistors that comprise the “functional” part of the 6502. In addition to these, there are also LEDs sprinkled throughout that indicate the values of various control lines, registers, and status bits, as well as additional transistors and resistors (not counted in those “functional” totals) that are necessary to drive those LEDs.” – TheMonster6502.com

If you are imagining buying one to create a football-field sized Apple II, the Monster 6502, due to its size, runs at a much lower speed than the original CPU which makes it hard to run Loderunner using it. Also, there are no plans (yet) to sell the Monster 6502 but if that happens, the developer estimates that it would cost between $1,000 and $5,000 dollars!

Also, Eric says that it is not possible to buy one yet. However, he has a link to a mail list where he will notify any potential buyers in case the project turns into a product. Unfortunately, the developer warns that it is not a cheap gadget and estimates that it will cost between $1,000 and $5,000 dollars!

It is an amazing achievement and you can watch a quick presentation of the project watching the video below.